1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for determining the distance between two stores on an aircraft or aerial vehicle during the separation of one of the two stores. The two stores may be external stores or may be internal stores.
2. Discussion of Background Information
With modern fighter aircraft, external stores (in particular guided missiles, rockets, bombs) are typically arranged very close to one another. In order to ensure safe separation of an external store, certain minimum distances (in the range of >2 inches) from other external stores on the vehicle must be maintained during the entire separation. The maintenance of these minimum distances must be verified in flight tests.
The determination of distance is usually carried out with the aid of video recordings. However, the knowledge of the precise time for the occurrence of the smallest distance, minimum miss distance (MMD), is indispensable for the correct evaluation of the recordings. This is necessary because the camera is subject to a distortion in perspective and thus a sufficiently precise assignment of the MMD time is often not possible.